What is it about?
The remedies under Competition Act and Patents Act often appears to be in conflict. Patents Act provides for injunction to restrain person who use the patented invention without consent. Competition Act allows users, who are users of the patented technology that is a part of a standard or downstream user to approach the competition commission where there is an anti-competitive agreement or an abuse of dominant position.
Why is it relevant now?
In case involving SEPs and GMOs, where standard implementers and downstream users have to use the patented technology, have seen the patent holders approaching the courts for injunction and the users approaching the competition commission for opposing reliefs. This happened recently in the cases involving Ericsson and Monsanto.
In this class, we will be looking at the interface between the refliefs in patent law and competition law in the light of the above cases.